Halloween 2010

Our Halloween adventures begin early this year, as we head to Yogi Bear Jellystone Park in Waller, TX for a frightfully fun weekend of camping in "The Trail of Terror"!

...(Having tech difficulties)...

Aaaaaaaaall of the pictures I had downloaded for this post have mysteriously disappeared! WTH, man!???...

Please Stay Tuned...



Leaving the park



Halloween Fun (Last Year - '09)

We were definitely able to do so much more decorating last year... So what happened THIS year?  We've had NO RAIN! ~~ Everything outside has remained covered in a thick layer of dust (or dirt).  I can't keep my screened-in back porch clean -- I've pretty much given-up on that.  Last year, I made a "display" of our jack-o-lanterns and decorated pumpins on the back porch and I absolutely loved it!!!  It set the right mood for the beginning of the holiday season!  And sadly, no display was made this year.  (Boo, Hiss)

This is was the first year that I tried painting our pumpkins before carving them... Now I'm HOOKED!


Hard-at-work, cleaning out her painted pumpkin!

  ~ Our Display ~

(before photo editing)





  

Tatum's jack-o-lantern!

 



My "girl" turned-out so purdy!  I was so pleased with her! (Awe!)





Betcha can't guess who's idea THIS was... LOL!



 We had a little friendly competion last year ('09) with Jimmy's brother, Ray, and his girlfriend, Kelli...

Ray & Kelli's pumpkin family




 Tatum dressed up as a "Dead Fairy" -- That was her idea and she played-it-out well, as you can see in the following pictures that we took in our front & back yard!

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For those who know me, this should come as no surprise!...

 

Playing with pictures again!



...ALWAYS!!! (LOL)



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Dressed in her Halloween outfit for school... They're not allowed to dress in costume :(




Youth weekend for deer hunting -- Bundled-up and ready to GO!



 More pictures of Tatum, dressed up as a dead fairy.  She's so photogenic!

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Me & Jimmy @ a good friends' 40th birthday party



  



Another day of dressing up for school



Like I said, she's SO photogenic!





Ready to go get some CANDY!





A full moon on Halloween night, as Tatum trick-or-treated!

...And that was our 2009 Halloween!...

Switch Plates Idea

ANYTHING but the ordinary switch plate, please!

We had searched a few different stores for the "right" switch plates... Sortof "country-fied"/ rustic, but NOT "COWBOY"... Although we like cowboy decor, we're definitely NOT cowboys -- (Just "rednecks") ;)

Of course, we looked at our favorite neighborhood country store, RND Rustics ~ They had LOTS of different country/ rustic switch plates to choose from.  But none of them really jumped-out at me and screamed, "Pick me!  Pick me!"... And, as always, the people at RND Rustics are really nice and helpful.  So when we told them what we were looking for, they kindly broke into a stash of a new line (or style) of switch plates that they were saving to bring out at their grand opening party that following Saturday.  (I wish I would've taken a picture of them ~ Maybe next time I'm in the store) So picture this:  They were metal cut-outs of different "cowboy" scenes and had some strange colors covering them - Sortof iridescent, maybe?  You'd just have to see 'em.  But they had a purple color on them that just lashed-out at me in a bad kind of way.  Jimmy ALMOST had me convinced to go ahead and buy these... Since I figured if we didn't find what we wanted HERE, we probably weren't going to find them anywhere.  But dang ~ They were "cowboy" (for one)... (and two) they had this purple color on 'em... (Three) they were $15 EACH!  So I was like, "Um, no.  I don't think so."  And so we left, empty handed.

I don't really remember when I came up with this ingenious idea of mine, but I know it wasn't long after...

They sell these cute little iron crosses at RND Rustics.  I had bought two of them, months ago, with the plan to put them up on the walls ...somewhere.  But they never got put up.  And it just hit me one day, that I could use those crosses to make our switchplates!

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OK, so I'm gonna quit babbling now, and I'll show ya what I did...

First, I remembered that Home Depot had plain, unfinished wooden switch plates that you could paint or stain.  So I went and bought two!

 

Next, I got my crosses out and sized-'em-up, to see if it was even "do-able"...

'Looks fine to ME!

Next, I thought of distressing the switch plates, for a more rustic look.  So I got a hammer and I beat the crap out of them with the backside (the side you use to take nails out!)  Nicely though, so as not to break them in the process, of course.

And here they are, distressed and with a fresh coat of stain... Which I later spilled all over my outdoor carpet because I didn't have the lid properly resealed when I was finished using it! (Yay me! - LOL!) 

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So, while the stain dried on the switch plates, I got out the same turquoise color (that I used in the bathroom) and my little paint brush.

 The paint brush that I chose to use was round (not flat) for dabbing the paint on the crosses.  It takes very little paint to do this... its a technique that I saw some other people doing with walls and furniture, where you dab most of the paint off of the brush (towhere very little paint is left) before you begin dabbing it on the cross.  This allows for the iron to still show through, which is the look I was going for!  It was TOO EASY!  It worked-out perfect! (I think.)

Then, once the plates and the crosses were dried, I got out my handy little glue gun!

This process wasn't as easy as it coulda, woulda, shoulda been... in fact, it was a pain in my derriere!  I had to remove each cross, from each plate -- not to mention the dried glue -- in order to reposition them just so.  Centered would've been nice here, in the picture above... I don't know if you see it, but I can tell that it's STILL a bit off.

The second one came out 'just right', though...

I <3 'em!  I was so pleased with the way they turned-out.  And I SAVED $$$... The crosses were only $2 each and the switch plates were only a couple of bucks.  The stain, which I bought especially for this project, was like $5 and some change...  I already had the glue gun and the glue sticks but had picked up more glue sticks at the dollar store, while I was there buying the artist paint brushes.  So, yea ~ I saved some dough AND I have the satisfaction of saying, "I did it!"  ...That's the BEST part! ;)

The Old Armoire Gets A Make-over

Here's my old, unfinished TV stand (or Armoire) that I purchased YEARS ago.  I think this was my very first furniture purchase EVER... I bought it (on layaway) at Walmart, to house my big 31" TV (which was "big" to me, at the time)  I never even thought of painting it.  Staining it, maybe.  But after seeing how easy it is to paint ~~ And it seems everyone is painting EVERYTHING these days!  ~~ using the french painting technique that I found on the Life in Grace blog, I was immediately convinced that THIS is what I wanted to do!

I noticed that a lot of the blogs that I stumbled upon are *very* big on the turquoise colors to paint furniture... Which I absolutely LOVE, But, I didn't have a "deep turquoise" paint and so my Honey suggested that I use the blue paint that we already had.  I bought a gallon of this bright, vibrant blue paint for the huge Texas flag that I painted on the outside of Jimmy's "man shed" last year.  I really like the color AND, to be "different" (of course) I figured it would work out perfect!  (Great idea, Babe!)

I pretty much followed the same steps as the blog above but with my own twist.  In trying to save every penny, I try to use colors and stains that we already have available.  I had bought a metallic gold and a turquoise color in spray paint cans recently, knowing that they would come in to play in the armoire make-over.  The other lady used a dark brown paint to show the distressed look in her peice ~ However, I thought that the gold would look better!  I used a candle to go over the edges where I wanted the gold to show through the blue, before I sprayed it (just as she did in the blog linked above)... Supposedly, there's different grits of sandpaper that are ideal for using in the various projects.  I had one kind, though-- Don't know what grit it was -- but it was probably too heavy.  OH, and (4-1-1!)  I probably should have SANDED the entire cabinet BEFORE I painted!!  The paint comes off too easily, sandpaper or not!  (Mental note taken for the NEXT wood painting project!)

After I got the metallic gold everywhere I wanted, I instinctively began to spray the cabinet doors with the turquoise!  It's almost as if I knew to do this... Maybe I've seen it somewhere before.  Yea, that's probably it ~ I watch a lot of HGTV for inspiration!  So while the two colors dried, I headed for my favorite little rustic country store, RND Rustics for some cool-looking door pulls!  Yea, those boring round, wooden ones had to GO!

I wanted to find (and buy) new hinges, too, but they really didn't have anything that was appealing to me... Or rustic, I should say.  So I settled for door pulls only.  Oh, and the lady who owns (and runs) the store told me that these pulls are still made the "old fashioned" way! ~ Which makes 'em even COOLER, in my book! =)

As soon as I get back, I immediately began painting the entire cabinet in the vibrant blue.  I used a cheap, dollar store paint brush (instead of a hand roller).  I like the brush marks that were left behind and made sure to leave 'em like that, so the paint already had a distressed effect without even having touched it with sandpaper!

The cabinet originally had a top shelp for extra storage (electronics, nick-nacks, etc) but that was ruined when I had it in storage at one time.  The shelf was made of cheap particle board and it wharped with the humid weather.  SO, I gave my wonderful handyman the task of making a new shelf for the unit and put him to work!  ("Chop, Chop"!) ;)
FYI ~ We "redneck-ify" a lot of things around here, simply to save money and cut costs.  So, where someone else may have went to the local lumber store and bought a brand new piece of wood for the shelf, Jimmy went outside and found 4 pcs of used wood fence pickets, instead.  He measured and cut two 2x4's to use as supports for the pickets... which were measured and cut to use as our new shelf! =)

Installing this new "shelf" wasn't an easy process... In fact, somehow things got a bit shifted and resulted in a lop-sided shelf!  (which you'll see when I post the picture of the finished cabinet, doors wide open...)

I waited until the next day to sand.  The lady who I got the candle idea from, suggested that you'd only need to wipe the areas where you want the brown (or gold) to show through.  I just went to sanding...  I sanded-off too much in some areas.  But from a distance (like in this picture, for example) you really can't tell.  But since I neglected to SAND the entire cabinet BEFORE I began painting, I'm thinking I'll probably need to put some sort of sealant or top coat over the paint, so as to prevent any further paint from coming off.  And it comes off WAY TOO EASY... Durn.  Any suggestions on what I can use to do this???

Aaaaaaand, here's the cock-eyed, redneck-ified shelf that my Dear Jimmy made!  OH, and incase you didn't notice yet ~ the door pulls on both the top AND bottom are lop-sided as well!  He says it gives it character, I say that I'm going to forever notice that everything is "off" and it's going to bug the crap outta me for the rest of time!  (LOL)... Seriously, that kinda stuff annoys me.  But, I love my Honey for giving it his all and doing those tedious little tasks that I (otherwise) would not have done... 'Gotta love him!!!

Well, I love how it turned-out.  'Reminds me of faded old blue jeans! (Which I love, too!)  Jimmy and Tatum like it...  Everyone seems to be happy with the livingroom make-over thus far... And there's more to come!  Just wait and see... Or, as my mom would say, "Hide and WATCH!" =D 

  

Decorating the Walls

So many ideas!  Ooooh, the possibilities!  I began searching the net, looking for stencils and wall murals... Anything I could find.  I like different.  I don't want what every other Dick and Jane have in their homes.  I've gotta be different ...And if I do something, I like to do it with a BANG!  I happened upon lots of awesome blogs along the way and that got the wheels in my head to turning.
So, here's what I started-off with, after we got the two paint colors up in our living room... One of the sites I found for wall decals was Right on the Walls.  Here's the first inspirational photo that I borrowed from...

And here's the second...

I found a large round wall clock at a local dollar store for $20...

...And decided that I'd save even MORE $$$ by painting my own sign for the clock! (instead of ordering a decal on the web)  This way, I get the exact size I need for the clock I bought.  I had to sortof copy the image from my computer screen, onto paper, then I used a permanent marker to draw the image on the reverse side of the paper, since the 2nd image (above) was backwards for the way I wanted it to appear on MY wall.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos on wall art ~ How-To's for painting your own stencils and murals.  One lady used sidewalk chalk to outline her picture before she began throwing paint on her walls... (how genious, I thought!)  So I borrowed a stick from my daughter and began laying-out my design...

I started-out by holding the clock up against the wall and tracing around it, so that I had a palette (sp?) to work with!  Then I just drew the "sign" from looking at the picture on paper and the chalk made it easy to fix any mistakes.  Once I had the sign the way I wanted it, I went and bought a small can of black paint and small, fine-tip artist brushes.

It was really fun!  I enjoyed doing this myself.  Unfortunately, I started-off with oil-based paint and it ran and made a mess on the wall AND on my hands!  So I went BACK to the hardware store and exchanged it for water-based paint.  Which, BTW, they had to mix!  (long story there but, MAN, what a process that was, just getting close to the black color I needed)  'Close enough, I'll say!  Don't ya think?

Tatum took this picture of me holding the wall clock in place, so I could text it to Jimmy ~ Who was at work at the time...

We FINALLY finished it this Labor Day weekend!  YAY!  I cleaned-up the runny mess that the oil-based paint made and fine-tuned the rest... I LOVE IT!  Do you?!?

Livingroom Make-over

From the day I bought this house, in 2003, the ceiling and walls in this old house have needed attention.

(Cracked plaster and paint on ceiling and walls)

(ceiling)

Our old 1966 wood-frame house has needed a good, over-all make over and the time has finally come...  I bought the house as-is, so it has beenup to me to do any updating and repairs, etc... I just never got around to doing aything about it, 'til now.  These are "Before" pics...

The "old living room"  (Before pic)

This is what the living room has generally looked like for the past 7.5 years.  I've rearranged a few times, but as you can see, the room is more of a rectangular shape and it's sortof hard to situate furniture with such an odd area to work with.  Now, I'm sure that one of HGTV's design stars could come in and totally move everything around in a way that I've never even thought of before but ...well, that's not likely to happen, so...  

(View from Front Door)
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First thing we do (and this is what started the whole thing) we pulled-up the filthy, stinky old carpet! (Can I get an Amen!??)  And we uncovered the original wood floors.  Why the previous owners ever covered them up is beyond us!  Sure, there's a few problem areas but, they sure are purdy!  Well, they will be, once we get 'em all cleaned-up and polished! ;)
This is our hero, Jimmy!  He gets all of the handyman stuff done around here for us, and then some!  He's awesome!!!

Here's the floor that was hiding under that hideous carpet!

And, so begins the scraping of the walls...  They were in desperate need of a makeover!

...Tatum even helped... When most kids easily get bored after 5 - 10 minutes, not my Tatum!  She was a hard worker!!

We scraped the ceiling and the walls for WEEKS!  (well, that's how long it took us, since I was only motivated to work on it, on the weekends)

Lola was a BIG helper, too!  She was there to OVER-SEE the entire project! :)

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OK, so for 7.5 years, I fought over what colors I would paint the living room... 'Never could settle on anything... Until it came right down to it, and we were ready to PAINT!  And I walked right up to it.  It was as if the color was calling my name... "Hey, Shelly!  Look!... Over here!  Pick me!  Pick ME!" (LOL)

And it was like angels singing, "Aaaaaaaaaah"... Tibetian Orange.

I must admit, the color freaked-me-out a bit, at first.  I didn't know if I liked it... It was WAY dark.  But, we kept painting...

Again, Tatum was more than willing to help... I didn't have to twist her arm at all!!

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Yea, so, the orange was too much for the entire room, I concluded.  I just couldn't see it on all four walls, so we went back to the paint store.  And, Voila! ~ We agreed on and picked-up a gallon of "Arizona".

We did two walls in the orange and two in the yellow.  It didn't take long to get used to the new colors!  Bright and vibrant ~ That's how I like it!  Jimmy, if he doesn't like it, doesn't say so... He just pretty much goes with the flow.  We sortof have an understanding... He's got say over the outside projects and I've got say over the inside!  ...'Cept the exterior paint colors... I'll definitely have a say in that! ;)

Ok, the walls are now painted.  The ceiling is painted ~ Oh, and we used an "antique white" instead of the traditional white, on the ceiling ~ So now what???

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